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Main opposition PASOK's President George Papandreou on Tuesday said
that he intended to ask President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos
Papoulias to lead a "national effort" to protect the environment and
Greece's forests.

In an address to PASOK's Parliamentary Council, Papandreou also
expressed hope that his proposal on Monday for a meeting between the
leaders of the political parties in Parliament, chaired by President
Papoulias, would be accepted by all involved.

"National consensus on the issue of fires and of protecting forests and
the environment will help raise the morale and spirits of the public,"
he added, criticising the government's present refusal to accept the
proposal and its "rejection of consensus".

"Today we mourn the two pilots that gave their lives in a heroic effort
to protect our common wealth and public interest. It is not a time for
criticism," he said, noting that PASOK had voiced its criticism
promptly and in detail, so as to help prevent the things now happening
today.

Expressing hope that the deaths of the two pilots would be the last
human casualties to the fires blazing throughout Greece, PASOK's leader
also called for an end to all discussion on revising article 24 of the
Constitution that protects forests.

According to Papandreou, even a suspicion of a possible amendment that
would legalise unlawful building in forests fed law-breaking and
flouting of rules.

"There is a need to establish a mentality leading to a methodical and
in depth policy of prevention and protection for our forest wealth and
development based on the environment," PASOK's leader underlined,
stressing that this was a major issues for the country for which the
government essentially had made no plans.

During the meeting there were also briefings on the Turkish elections
last Sunday, on poverty issues and proposals were presented on forest
fires, major public works projects and the way that these were awarded,
issues linked to the Porto Carras resort and agriculture ministry
matters.

Just before the end of the meeting, Papandreou departed for
Thessaloniki in order to attend the funerals of the two pilots of a
firefighting plane that crashed on Monday while fighting a fire in
Styra, Evia.

Members of the government and the political parties on Tuesday
expressed their sorrow for the deaths of the two pilots who lost their
lives in the line of duty, when their fire-fighting aircraft crashed
during the effort to put out a fire on the island of Evia the previous
day.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis had also expressed his grief at the
deaths during a visit to the firefighting aircraft squadron at Elefsina
on Monday night.

"Over and above ceremony, I came here to say one or two things from the
heart. I express my anguish at the loss of your two colleagues, our two
pilots that fell in the line of duty. Our thoughts are with their
families, whose sorrow I share. We thank you all very much for
everything you are doing, for the battles that you give daily over the
past days on the burning fronts that daily break out all around the
country. You have earned the admiration and respect of us all, of all
Greeks, for your heroism and the self-sacrifice that you show. We stand
by you," the prime minister said.

Macedonia-Thrace Minister George Kalantzis expressed his deepest sorrow
and condolences for the families of the unlucky pilots, who were
stationed at an Air Force base in Thessaloniki. Funeral services for
both men were held in the city earlier on Tuesday afternoon.

"I cannot find words to express my sorrow. The human mind stops in the
face of the loss and sacrifice of Dimitris Stoilidis and Yiannis
Hatzoudis, our pilots that lost their lives defending the common good
in a great and daily battle on the fire fronts," the minister said in a
statement.

According to main opposition PASOK spokesman Petros Efthymiou, the
entire Greek nation had been plunged into mourning.

"Two young men lost their lives protecting the common property of the
Greek nation, true heroes to duty. The fires have taken on the form of
a crisis and all Greeks at this time have in our thoughts the families
of those that were lost and those who are fighting the fires from one
end of Greece to the other," he said.

According to PASOK's spokesman, however, this "climate that engenders
contemplation" was not shared by the ruling New Democracy government,
whose spokesman and minister "had the courage to stand at a complete
psychological and moral distance from the feelings of the average Greek
citizens" and, he added, "to level petty party-political, spiteful,
intense and divisive criticism against the president of PASOK and
PASOK".

Commenting on the government's refusal to accept a proposal by PASOK
leader George Papandreou for a meeting of political party leaders under
President Karolos Papoulias, Efthymiou said ND's stance was
"inconceivable".

"PASOK's proposal remains, it is a proposal for national
understanding," he added.

According to an announcement by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE),
however, a meeting of the political party leaders was not an answer to
the problems, especially if it did not include the services in charge
of protecting forests and putting out fires. It called for a debate in
Parliament in which the trade unionists of such bodies were called to
attend.

KKE would not refuse to take part if the President were to call a
meeting of political party leaders, however, the announcement added.

The party urged the abolition of laws that converted millions of
hectares land formerly considered forest to pasture and grazing lands,
an investigation of how land was turned into lots on the mountains of
Penteli and Parnitha and converting properties acquired in various ways
by construction cooperatives and other companies, including the Church,
into public land.

The Peloponnese, the southernmost region of Greece's mainland,
continued to be ravaged by fires on Tuesday, with new blazes reported
on Mount Taygetus, Achaia and a dump near Ancient Epidaurus.

Residents of the village of Kounina, near Egio in the prefecture of
Achaia, fled from the homes when a change of wind shifted a nearby
forest fire that was burning out of control toward the village. A
strong fire-fighting force that included two fire-fighting airplanes
and one helicopter was sent in to tackle the blaze, which started in an
area of forest and agricultural land.

A second fire near Egio at the village Dimitropoulos was under control
but firemen remained on hand to prevent possible re-ignition.

The fire on Mount Taygetus further to the south broke out at around
15:00 near the village of Polovitsa in the prefecture of Laconia and
quickly took on large dimensions.

Man arrested in Megara on arson charges, 3 fires burning in Kastoria

A 39-year-old was arrested in Megara by the Western Attica Security
Police on Monday evening, police said on Tuesday.

The man is accused of being responsible for last Friday's fire at the
34th kilometre of the Athens-Corinth national highway, which destroyed
approximately 10 stremma of pine forest.

The detainee confessed to lighting the fire, and turned himself in to
the Megara Fire Department, which was drafting a case file against him,
after which he will appear before a public prosecutor.

Meanwhile, the Fire Brigade's arsons squad was examining a canister of
flammable liquid that was found Monday in a gully in Vrilissia behind
the Sismanoglio hospital, where a fire had broken out but was quickly
extinguished by firefighters.

The Vrilissia fire, as well as a second one that broke out a short
distance away in another gully, and a third that broke out near Penteli
Boulevard at the intersection with Anapafseos street, are believed to
be the work of arsonists and investigations were focused in that
direction.

Also, three fires were blazing in Kastoria prefecture, two in the
municipalities of Nestorio and Akrites, while the third, in a
difficult-to-access forest area on Mt. Grammos, has been burning for a
week, as firefighting efforts were being hampered due to minefields in
the area.

The fire that broke out Monday in a forest expanse in Kotyli, Nestoria,
was reported on Tuesday to be receding, as 40 firefighters with six
fire engines were battling the blaze, assisted by a firefighting
helicopter. A second fire that broke out Monday, in a
difficult-to-access forest expanse in the Kalyvia-Katsara area of
Akrites, was also still burning in the forested expanse, which was also
mine-strewn. According to firefighters, the fire started out in Albania
and spread to the Greek side of the border.